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Tickets: Free, but reservations recommended; free parking available at city parking deck, 153 Crogan St. next to theater

Contact: 678-226-6222

A comedic twist on a serious topic is the focus of a comedy show Aug. 9 in Lawrenceville.

"The Muslims are Coming!" stand up comedy show, featuring some of today's top Muslim-American comedians, makes it stop at the Aurora Theatre.

The tour, produced by comedians Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah, is headed through the heart of the conservative South in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee through Aug. 15. A second tour is set for the fall in the Midwest, with excerpts from all shows to be featured in an upcoming documentary.

"Our hope is to use the stand-up comedy to bring people of all faiths and backgrounds together to laugh and to foster understanding," said Obeidallah, who co-starred in the Comedy Central special "Axis of Evil" and has appeared on numerous TV shows.

"The shows are free by design because we want to reach as many people as possible with our shows ... especially the ones that have never met a Muslim before," said Farsad. She is director and producer of the critically acclaimed documentary, "Nerdcore Rising."

The show also feature comedians Omar Elba of the recent Showtime Special "Legally Brown" and Maysoon Zayid, who was featured on the PBS special "Muslim Comedians Come of Age" and is a regular on-air contributor to the recently launched "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on Current TV.

The special guest is Georgia's own Gilbert Lawand, who opens regularly for Todd Barry, Greg Proops and Maria Bamford and who's show "Comedy Gold" won Atlanta's Best Comedy Show award.

"The comedy in our shows is supposed to be funny to everyone, not just Muslims. I mean, we all have ridiculous mothers, right?" Farsad said.

The comedians will interact with audience members, including setting up street actions like the "Ask a Muslim booth" during the day and by holding a Q&A session at the end of each show.

"We hope that by answering people's questions or responding to their concerns, we can counter misconceptions they may have about Muslims," Obeidallah said.